Harmonica!

Beo's great aunt Mary gave him this harmonica for Christmas. Until now he was a little too shy to try it himself, but tonight he decided to give it a go.

OH, THE SHAME!

The other day Beo ripped a page out of one of his books. I think it was an accident, since he obviously knew it was the wrong thing to do and was distressed until I repaired it with tape.

That sets up today's events. Kelson and I both thought Beo had gone down for his nap, since he was very quiet. What he was actually doing was reading himself his copy of Max Paints the House. And at some point, he ripped a page. Given the situation we eventually found, Kelson and I can only surmise that Beo's thought process went something like this:

Oh, no. I ripped my book! This is bad! Okay, hold on. Maybe I can fix it. If I just-- oh no! I ripped it even more! What if I-- no! No no noooo! My book! I love this book! Mommy reads it to me-- MOMMY! OH NO! Mommy is going to kill me when she sees this! But what else can I do? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. What's the point of even trying? I might as well just rip and rip and RIP!

This is the worst thing I have ever done. I am so ashamed. I cannot live with myself for what I have done. Mom and Dad will hate me forever. It would have been better if I were never born! Yes... yes, that's it. I should leave. The window! I'll throw myself out and never have to face what I've done. Oooooh, the shame! The SHAME!

At this point Beo was obviously overwhelmed with guilt, since he started crying. Kelson walked in and found him straddling the back of the futon, the window open, frantically attempting to escape. This is what Kelson found on the floor:

When I got up from my own nap, Beo wouldn't even look at me. When I told him I was sad about his book, he hugged me and buried his face in my chest. OH, THE SHAME!

How I Found Him

This is how I found Beo napping today.

Yes - he is holding that book up, resting against his face, and he is completely asleep. After I took this I carefully removed the book from his fingers and covered him up.

Mommy's Big Boy

This has definitely been a month of independence for Beo! He spent two nights in a row at Grandma B's, complete with pottying and napping (neither of which has happened on previous visits). He unlocked and unbolted both doors and let himself outside, resulting in a quick trip to Home Depot to get some chain locks. And finally, today, he went to day care for the first time!

First day of day care: SLEEPY!

It took Kelson a while, but he convinced me to look into some day care time for Beo. Once I started investigating, I discovered a little place just on the other side of our block. They take a maximum of 14 kids at a time and run a sort of dual day care and preschool program. Right now most of the kids are Beo's age, so they do a simplified preschool program aimed at that age group. Today we tried it for the first time. Beo was completely comfortable having me leave, and when I went to pick him up he simply offered me a toy and tried to get me to come play.

Thanks for the Harley shirt, Uncle Duane!

The teachers were pretty amazed that he didn't have any kind of meltdown... he was a happy guy, ate a ton of food at lunch, and played away. I guess that means we've done our jobs producing a content, secure kid... Mommy and Daddy, on the other hand, were a bit emotional!

Beo has finally learned how to ride piggyback.

Beo's also doing much better playing with other kids. He seems to have learned how to express himself a little bit better - instead of hitting, now when he gets excited he will yell or hug or run around.

Nap hands

He continues to add more words to his vocabulary, many of them from Kipper, the show he watches almost every morning before breakfast. The show comes from Britain, so he's also started picking up an accent, which is kind of hilarious. "Push" and "pull" are "poosh" and "pool." I do really like Kipper, however, because it portrays so many real-life activities in a very simple manner. Beo has learned about boats, ice cream, fish, ducks, the park, and how to interact with friends. Often some new word will pop out and I'll think, where did that come from? Only to realize that Beo learned it from Kipper!

"Daddy, make Mario move!"

One funny example... I got out my origami paper the other day. I'd forgotten that this appears on Kipper, but Beo didn't! He knew instantly what he was supposed to do. He grabbed his paper, "folded" it up (ahem, crumpled), and ran around with it yelling "BOAT BOAT BOAT!" He then tried to take it in the bath with him, since Kipper and Tiger took their paper boats to a stream. That didn't work out so well.

My little naked fireman!

Birthday Boy!

Beowulf is now two! Just for the sake of posterity, I thought I'd make a little list of what he likes and does.

Favorite movie: My Neighbor Totoro

Favorite book: Green Eggs and Ham

Favorite food: CAKE!

Favorite toy: Cars

Knows: The colors green, blue, and yellow. Numbers one, two, and three. Letters O, P, and B. 

Favorite phrases: Oh, no! Oh DEAR! Stuck!

Favorite cell phone game: Pocket God

Does not like: Clothes, Indian food, people laughing at him.

Beowulf's birthday was on Christmas Eve, but we waited until today to celebrate. Kelson and I began the night before, making Beo's Totoro birthday cake. We were up late and there was a last-minute trip to Target fifteen minutes before closing time, but it came out great.

In the morning, Beo got up to find the table covered with a party monster plastic tablecloth and a pile of presents. Having become a pro at Christmas, he immediately picked up one of the packages and wanted to open it, but we told him he had to wait! 

Instead he got to eat waffles while watching... Totoro. What else?

Unfortunately Grandma B came down with a bad cold - thanks to our Christmas visit - so my folks couldn't come. But Grandma and Grandpa C showed up! We played with balloons and silly string for a while.

Then - presents! At Christmas Beo would open one present and immediately want to play with it, but now that he had gotten the idea he wanted to open all the presents at once. 

He got lots of awesome stuff, like books, more play-doh, new trains for his train tracks, a movie, and TRUCKS!

Next it was time for the cake! Beo was pretty impressed that Totoro came in cake form as well. I was a little worried he wouldn't want us to cut it up, but he knew exactly what it was and wanted some immediately. I gave him one of Totoro's ears, which was almost solid frosting. He gobbled that down and demanded more. The second piece went down a little more slowly. 

Since we were all full of cake, we decided to walk to the park. It was a nice sunny day and Beo had a great time trying out his trucks and chasing his new nerf football downhill. (A brilliant present!) There was a girl a little younger than him at the park, too. Beo walked up to her and drew back both hands. You could see the little wheels working in his head, thinking, "I know I am not supposed to hit. But I want her attention! What should I do? I KNOW!" And with that, he threw his arms around her and gave her a big bear hug. After that she followed him everywhere.

When we came home, we had some lunch, and played with trains until naptime. Beo said goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa C and passed out much quicker than expected, given all the excitement. When he got up again, I was zonked out myself, so Kelson played with him until I got up. Then we watched his new movie, Ponyo, and ate dinner.

At bedtime, Beo didn't want to go to bed! He finally had a little meltdown - the first real upset of the holiday season, but pretty minor. Everything was all better when we got the flashlight Great-Grandma gave him for Christmas and turned out the lights to enjoy the present from my aunt, uncle, and cousin - a glow in the dark Dr. Seuss book! We had to read that a couple of times. 

All in all, a very successful birthday! We were sad that my folks couldn't be here, but I am sure we will enjoy having fun with them another time.

This whole week that Kelson has been off has been so fun. It is such a blessing as a parent to be able to do things with our kid and really enjoy our time. We've tried to do things at his pace and in a manner that he could handle, and it's been great. Yes, we have to discipline him here and there, but there have been no major tantrums and for a two-year-old he's really very good at minding. Overall he's just a happy, energetic kid and we love him to bits!

Christmas and Dinosaurs!

Christmas was really fun this year! Beo is finally old enough to understand the concept of unwrapping presents, and he was really excited! We left Totoro sitting unwrapped for him to find on Christmas morning. Beo was very cautious, unsure whether Totoro was real or not, and needed Mommy to hold Totoro a while before he made friends!

 Beo also got... play-doh! Daddy has tried a couple of times to show him what it's about, but so far it's not really clicking. But it's fun to stack the cans!

 We did Christmas with Kelson's parents on Christmas Eve, and also went over to his Aunt Mary's house to hang out with the family. After our Christmas morning at home, we went to Healdsburg and celebrated with my folks. It actually worked well to draw things out like that because it meant Beo only had a couple of presents to open at one time and didn't get overwhelmed. So, fortunately, there was no post-present meltdown!

 Stocking stuffer from Grandma B - a duck timer that quacks!

 Beo had an absolute blast with my cousins, Spencer and Stewart. I got them all little nerf dart guns, and Beo was in absolute heaven having a shootout with the "big kids!"

 Kelson gets the week off between Christmas and New Years, so we've been having a very exciting week! Wednesday was the Zoo with Grandma C.

 This time Beo finally got to go on the people mover, which takes you for a relaxing little ride over the lions, elephants, and bison. He was a little worried about the height, but it was okay because Daddy was there.

 Thursday we went for our first visit to the Lawrence Hall of Science. It's hideously overpriced, but worth at least one visit for the animatronic dinosaur exhibit they are currently running. Speaking of running...

 Look, Mom, it's DNA!

 OMG a TRICERATOPS!

Checking out the t-rex...

Mom and Beo, doin' science...

Checkin' out the air tubes...

On the lower level they had this random phone booth set into the wall. As I was taking this photo, a kid walking behind me said, "Whoa! A PHONE BOOTH!"

This is Beo's "fake smile" as he pretends not to be terrified of the giant t-rex.

The actual t-rex...

And finally, Beo and Daddy next to the first particle accelerator.

Next up: Beowulf's birthday! He actually turned two on Christmas Eve, but we decided to push his party back until New Year's Eve.

Merry Christmas!

Mommy and Beo by the tree.

Diaper hat!

Kelson made Nikki an Oreo birthday cake!

...Which Beo was more than happy to eat. 

The viking eating his pants. 

Beowulf the viking chillin' out before our Christmas walk.

We discovered that El Cerrito has its own little Christmas tradition. In 1921 a man named Sundar Shadi immigrated to the US from India. He went to school at UC Berkeley, where he met and married his wife. They settled down in El Cerrito, and in 1950 he decided to celebrate Christmas by creating a couple of paper mache figures for a nativity scene. Every year he added a few more figures, and by the time of his death at age 101 the display was large enough to cover an entire hillside. He was not a Christian, but this one of the ways in which he expressed his love of the community. Today the display is set up every year on an open space up on the hill overlooking the bay. 

Tonight, we decided to go on a Christmas lights walk that would end at the nativity display. We hadn't exactly anticipated how far it was up the hill, so it turned out to be quite a trek to Bethlehem! But the scene is really quite charming. In the foreground is an entire pasture of sheep with shepherds, with an illuminated angel bringing them the good news. A little further back are wise men traveling with camels. Then up on the hillside is a bright star hanging over a miniature city of Bethlehem, with the smaller figures of Mary and Joseph trekking towards the city. So actually, there is no baby Jesus yet in this nativity scene! Next to it all is the passage from Luke that talks about the Angel coming down and proclaiming peace and good will to all men. The whole thing is set perfectly on the open hillside. 

Next time, though, we'll probably drive.